


Weasley & Black: Dark Object Removal

by Ray_Writes



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Book 5: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Gen, Slytherin's Locket
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-03
Updated: 2020-04-03
Packaged: 2021-03-01 01:28:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,005
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23463199
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ray_Writes/pseuds/Ray_Writes
Summary: Ginny can't explain why she gets the same feeling around that old locket that she did around the diary, but one night she enlists Sirius' help in figuring it out.
Relationships: Sirius Black & Ginny Weasley
Comments: 11
Kudos: 106





	Weasley & Black: Dark Object Removal

**Author's Note:**

> Hi there! For those just stumbling upon this or if you may have forgotten, a while back I wrote a oneshot called “A Troubled Man” about Ginny’s relationship to Sirius during the year she knew him. When I first started out with the idea, I hadn’t really decided whether to keep it canon-compliant or not (because I am allergic to Sirius’ death). It ended up turning out that way, but one possible direction it might have gone in was partially-written, and I wanted to do something with those paragraphs. This oneshot is the result.  
> Many thanks once again to the Ginny Lovers Discord, and especially mousewords for giving this a read beforehand to make sure it could work as a standalone piece and for suggesting the, in hindsight, obvious title. I thank you all for reading, and I hope you enjoy!

Ginny didn’t know why the drawing room tended to give her more shivers than the rest of Grimmauld Place. It wasn’t as if any other part of the house looked more welcoming than in here. Maybe it was the curtains drawn over every window, the drawers containing who knew how many objects of varying danger or toxicity, the writing desk that rattled any time someone drew near. 

She had to wonder what it would be like growing up in a house with a bunch of objects with dark magic lying about where anyone could find them. The twins would’ve gotten into everything and probably tried to use some on Percy, she thought. Her amusement faded when she thought about herself growing up and finding a dark object lying about in her cauldron for her to find. No, this wasn’t a funny house at all. She didn’t mind her mum’s fanatical drive to remove the whole lot of it so much once that thought entered her mind.

After they cleared the drawing room of everything that was old, broken or dangerous, it was as if a weighted blanket lifted off her, one she’d been unknowingly wearing every time she stepped into the room. Ginny told herself it was one of the objects, probably that music box that had nearly sent them all to sleep. It was normal to feel that way around stuff like that.

But why was she the only one who had seemed to? Why did it feel so similar to the creeping dread she had felt more and more with every time she’d opened that damned diary?

It was hard, sometimes, pretending that year had had no effect on her. She’d thought she’d gotten pretty good at maintaining the ruse, even with herself. But this house with its snake motifs everywhere and the dark mutterings of the House Elf who dwelled in it was just getting to her.

She tried to pass the time on other things. Playing with Crookshanks or bothering the twins. Her brothers had charmed their door shut for the afternoon, probably working on something they didn’t want their mum happening across, and Crookshanks was curled up on Hermione’s lap while she forced Harry and Ron to finish their homework. She likely thought it would help take Harry’s mind off his upcoming hearing, though Ginny doubted that very much.

Ginny was already done with her own summer work, having less than the incoming fifth years, so she’d wandered down into the kitchen for a snack, finding Sirius there spinning a bottle cap on the table like it was a top.

“Any left?” She asked upon noticing the Butterbeer label on the cap. 

He nodded to the cold cupboard. “You’ve earned it. Reckon that was pretty smart slamming the lid on that music box.”

She shrugged. “You saved Harry from those creepy tweezers or whatever they were.“

“That’s my job,” he said simply, though he sat up a little straighter with pride. He liked being complimented for things regarding Harry, Ginny had noticed. A part of her wished she didn’t relate to that so strongly.

“Then we ought to go into business. Fred and George are already starting young, so I’ve got to keep up.” Ginny popped the cap off her bottle and took a swig.

“Weasley and Black, Dark Object Removal,” Sirius said with a grin. “Best to keep my name off it, of course.”

“You’ll be my silent partner.”

Before Sirius could reply, her mother bustled into the room with a number of bags floating ahead of her. “Ginny, can you take these down to the pantry? I won’t need them until tomorrow,” she said, passing her some of the shopping.

“Sure, mum.” Ginny set her Butterbeer down and went into the pantry. And as she passed by a dingy-looking door, it happened again. That sense of dread was back.

Ginny froze. She’d been in the pantry countless times before this since they’d arrived at Grimmauld Place. Why was this happening now?

“You get lost in here or something?”

Ginny jumped and spun around to face Sirius, who had apparently been tasked with bags of his own to deliver. “Oh, no. Just thought… never mind.” She hurried out of the pantry and took another gulp of her drink sitting on the kitchen table, letting the warmth of the Butterbeer chase the chill that seemed to cling to her.

Ginny did her best to push it out of her mind. She was just being paranoid. Surely there wasn’t anything dangerous about the pantry; the Blacks would have had to have been mad to put potentially deadly things in there. Then again, as she passed by Mrs. Black’s sleeping portrait, maybe they were that mad.

She successfully forgot about it until after Harry’s hearing. While she would have been quite happy to continue celebrating with the twins, her mother sent her to fetch sauce from the pantry for dinner.

The feeling returned. “Hell,” Ginny muttered. What was wrong with her? She knew the diary was gone, and the idea that there could be anything else out there _like_ it was too terrible to consider. What were the chances that she of all people would come across it again?

Maybe it was something wrong with her. Maybe she was drawn to this sort of thing.

 _Or maybe,_ Ginny told herself, _there’s something evil here because this is the Black family home and Lucius Malfoy married directly into it._

That seemed far more likely to her.

“Ginny!” Her mum shouted from the kitchen, startling her.

“Coming,” she called back, tearing her eyes away from the door on the far side of the pantry and grabbing up the sauce.

She didn’t get the chance to go back to the pantry that evening; Kingsley had stopped by for dinner, and that apparently meant an impromptu meeting with the Order members present. Ginny was sent sulking up to her room along with the rest of the students. Hermione stayed up for another hour reading, but long after she had blown out the candle and Ginny’s parents’ footsteps had been heard going up the stairs, Ginny found herself unable to sleep.

She _needed_ to know what was causing this sense within her. She couldn’t live in this house a minute longer with goose flesh crawling up her arms and chills running down her spine. And the best thing to do was confront it before it moved location again.

Decided, Ginny rolled out of bed and found her slippers with her feet in the dark. She crept downstairs into the dimly-lit kitchen.

Only a single occupant remained. Sirius, seated at the table and reading what Ginny recognized as a copy of _The Quibbler._ Luna would be chuffed, probably.

“Stubby Boardman,” she heard him mutter with a chuckle.

“Er, hey.” She knew she couldn’t exactly get past to the pantry without his notice, so Ginny thought it best not to startle him. Sirius looked round, seeming surprised by her presence. “I just needed something.”

When she went past the cupboards and to the pantry door, however, he got up and followed her. “Needed what, exactly?”

Ginny hesitated. “What’s behind that door?”

“Kreacher’s quarters. Why?”

She blinked. Why would she suddenly have a bad feeling about Kreacher — worse than what she’d already had, at any rate. “I dunno. I just… this is going to sound a bit mad.”

“Well, they say Azkaban turns you mad, so I’ve probably heard them all. Go on.”

“Right.” It felt strange having to explain this to somebody. She was used to the people in her life knowing and simply ignoring or skirting around it. “Well, in my first year, Lucius Malfoy slipped a cursed diary into my school things, and it… it was evil. Really evil. I didn’t realize until it was too late, until it had a hold on me, and I’ll always remember the sort of danger it gave off.”

“You’re attuned to it.”

“I guess. It’s probably in my head.”

He shook his head. “The real trouble with Dark Magic is that it leaves traces. It never quite goes away.”

Ginny stared into his shadowed eyes and faint face and gulped. He really would know better than most, wouldn’t he?

“Right. Well, I noticed I was getting that same feeling here, in the drawing room until we cleaned it out. But now, it’s more coming from over there.”

He followed her pointed finger to the door, scowling. “Kreacher must have salvaged whatever was up there causin it. We’ll see if we can figure out which it is and give it to Mad Eye to have him deal with.”

Ginny approached as he yanked open the door.

The tiny room was mostly taken up by a large boiler, but in the corner there was what she supposed could be called a den. Kreacher lay in a ball on a pile of fabric scraps, curled around a golden locket Ginny recognized. They’d cleared it out of the drawing room, one of the easiest items to move. It always was the most innocuous looking things, wasn’t it?

“Kreacher will keep it safe, Master Regulus,” the House Elf murmured reverently. “Safe until Kreacher can follow Master’s commands.”

“Follow this command,” Sirius snarled. “Let go of that locket, Kreacher.”

Kreacher’s eyes bulged as he was compelled to, and the Elf gave a pitiable wail when Sirius snatched it up by the fine gold chain. “But Master Regulus—”

“Isn’t here anymore. Now stay in your room for the rest of the night.”

He slammed the door on Kreacher’s face and led her back into the kitchen where they wouldn’t have to listen to the cries and curses coming from the den.

“If this was Regulus’ then it’s definitely cursed. He was a Death Eater, died during the last war.”

“So he could’ve gotten it from, er, his leader?” Ginny looked down, slightly ashamed of herself. She knew Sirius proudly said the name, but it had just been such an ingrained part of her life growing up.

“He could have. Why do you think that in particular?”

“Because the diary Lucius Malfoy slipped in my things belonged to, to Tom Riddle. That was his real name when he attended school.”

“Voldemort’s?”

She nodded. “He was still in the diary. Or a ghost of him or part of him or something. I don’t know what it was exactly. He was using my life force to try and resurrect himself, and if Harry hadn’t stopped him,” Ginny said all in a great rush. She still felt so stupid and silly just thinking about it.

“Ginny, hang on,” Sirius said gently. “You’re saying that this locket might be Voldemort’s, and it might possess someone like the diary did to you?”

“I don’t know if it will. But it’s got his symbol, doesn’t it?” She pointed at the S inlaid on the lid, the design clearly meant to invoke a snake. “The Heir of Slytherin.”

Sirius regarded it darkly. “Then we can’t wait for Mad Eye.” He set the locket on the stone floor, and together they backed up a few feet. “ _Reducto!_ ”

Nothing happened. Sirius frowned and tried again, then with a series of spells more and more complicated and powerful. Some Ginny had heard of, some she had not. The locket remained unchanged.

“It must have protections against spell damage,” he decided.

“When I had the diary, it couldn’t be damaged either, by spells or trying to rip it. I flushed it down a toilet one time, and it still came back up.” Even though Sirius’ lips twitched at the imagery, he didn’t laugh at her, which she was grateful for. “Harry was able to destroy it with a Basilisk fang.”

“That would probably be the venom more than the fang. Basilisk venom is supposed to be very potent, and rare. But hang on a minute.” His eyes seemed to cloud over as he grew lost in thought. Then his limbs were seized in animation. “Come with me.”

“Where?”

But Sirius was already running out of the pantry and to the stairs, taking them two at a time. He surprised her with the energy he had even at this time of night.

It was all Ginny could do to keep up, staggering into his back when he suddenly stopped in the middle of a hall.

“A warning might have been nice.”

“Sorry,” he said in an offhand way, not really meaning it. That might have rankled, but it had been a minor offense. She watched him run his hands over the ceiling, fingertips just able to reach.

He found the catch he’d apparently been looking for and pulled down a section of the ceiling to reveal a step ladder that had seen better days.

“Will it hold?”

Sirius took out his wand and performed a couple different charms. “Now it should. Up we go. Or just me, if you like.”

Ginny shook her head. “I have to see this through.”

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Sirius grinned at her. “Good.”

He led the way up to an attic dustier than the rest of the house had already been. It took them a few minutes to find a lamp they could light to see by. Ginny ducked under cobwebs to get over to a chest of drawers Sirius seemed particularly interested in.

“What are we looking for?”

“A jewelry box. A specific one, mind. My Aunt Lucretia’s.” He began pulling out drawers and looking at the jewelry boxes stored inside. Some were embossed with initials, others had different symbols. “Before she married, her father gifted her a ring that supposedly held a bit of basilisk venom.”

Ginny looked up at his face in shock. “What in Merlin’s twisted undershirt would he do that for?”

“To protect her, supposedly, by warding off any particularly pushy suitors who weren’t her betrothed. She never used it, of course.”

“She’d have gone to Azkaban for murder if she had,” Ginny said.

He nodded. “Right. And she would’ve fit right in. The point being, if the ring is here and still works, all we have to do is open it up and get the venom on the locket.” He seized a box done in a very dark wood. “Here!”

Ginny watched as he sorted through the bits and pieces of jewelry inside, at last producing a ring with what looked to be a green stone overtop. She supposed it was really just a sort of cap. Ginny thought she could see the liquid inside; it made the colors in the stone seem to shift around.

He held the ring out to her. “You’ll have to put this on.”

“Why me?”

“Because it won’t work unless it’s worn, and my fingers are too big.” Sirius reached out and clasped her shoulder. “You’ll be alright, you’re pureblood. And you’ve got Black on both sides.”

Ginny stared at the ring, then looked back up at him. “You’re sure?”

“Absolutely. I remember Aunt Lucretia bragging about this old thing as if it were yesterday, she did it so often.”

Ginny took a breath. “Okay.” She took the ring and slid it onto her finger, relieved when nothing happened. Sirius set the locket on a cedar chest and she held her hand over it palm up so that the stone was pointing down towards it.

“How does it open?”

“You’ll have to speak the family motto.”

“What is it again?”

Sirius’ mouth twisted in a frown as he recited, “ _Toujours Pur._ ”

“ _Toujours Pur,_ ” Ginny repeated. The hatch on the ring popped open, and as the stone lifted away a deep green liquid poured out, hitting the locket.

Immediately, it became clear it had had some effect. Where the venom made contact it began to bubble and hiss, the metal of the locket seeming to melt away under it to reveal the inside. Ginny thought they caught sight of a single red eye with black slits instead of pupils before there was a terrible, unearthly shriek and a cloud of black mist rose from it before dissipating.

Ginny wrenched the ring off her finger and dropped it on the chest as she backed away, meeting Sirius’ wide eyes.

“That was _him,_ ” she said in a whisper. She was sure of it.

“You were right,” Sirius breathed. He moved around the chest to grip her shoulders, and Ginny didn’t realize until then that she had been shaking. “You were right, Ginny. And you did something about it. You beat him.”

“I did.” A smile rose tentatively to her face, one echoed by Sirius. “I finally did.”

Shouts from down below and footsteps registered. Apparently they’d woken the whole house.

“Harry, careful!” Her mum called out over the creaking of the ladder.

Harry’s head cleared the entrance to the attic, his glasses slightly askew as though he’d jammed them on and run headlong into danger. “Sirius! Ginny?” He clambered the rest of the way up. “What’s going on?”

“Er…” She didn’t even know how to start explaining. Would he think it strange that she’d happened upon two of Voldemort’s cursed possessions? Wasn’t it strange that Voldemort _had_ two cursed possessions holding some impression of his very self? What even were they?

Sirius squeezed her shoulder. “Just Weasley and Black, Dark Object Removal. Afraid the business hours are a bit unusual.” He threw a wink her way, then conjured up a glove to safely pluck the ring off the cedar chest. Then he headed to the ladder. “All fine up here. Sorry to wake you.”

“Is that that locket none of us could open?” Harry asked her quietly, frowning down at it.

“It is. But don’t worry, Harry,” Ginny told him. “It’s only a memory now.”

He looked up sharply, seeming to catch her meaning, but Ginny went to the step ladder. She’d be happy to explain and to wonder about just what the diary and the locket had been later; right now, she just wanted her bed.

She thought she might finally have a truly restful sleep.


End file.
